Host Sandra Flach is a mom of 8 children, 5 through adoption—one kinship and 4 international. Her youngest 2 are teens diagnosed with a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). With over 30 years of parenting experience and 20 plus years as an adoptive and kinship parent, she’s made mountains of mistakes and learned loads of lessons. She understands the difficult road of parenting children with trauma histories—and she is still in the trenches! The Adoption & Foster Care Journey is a podcast to encourage, educate, and equip you to care for children in crisis through adoption, foster care, and kinship care. We aim to support adoptive and foster families by sharing encouraging real-life stories and equipping them with modern-day research and parenting techniques.
Episodes
Monday Oct 04, 2021
Monday Oct 04, 2021
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
Tracey Glenn is a child of God, adoptive mom, author, and co-founder of Caring Connections for Special Needs LLC. She has a heart for God, kids, and all God’s creatures.
Listen in as Sandra Flach, host of our Orphans No More podcast, chats with Tracey about her adoption journey and her soon to be released book, Gathering the Wayward Heart.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Monday Sep 27, 2021
Monday Sep 27, 2021
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” Mark 12:41-44
In honor of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month, FASD is spotlighted on all of our September episodes. This last show in the series features host and adoptive mom Sandra Flach sharing from her family’s experience and closes in prayer for your family.
Listen in as Sandra shares about homeschooling and other sacrifices adoptive and foster families make—especially those caring for children prenatally exposed to alcohol.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Monday Sep 20, 2021
Monday Sep 20, 2021
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9
In honor of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month we continue our month-long spotlight on FASD with adoptive mom and FASD advocate, Jenn Wisdahl.
Jenn became an adoptive mom while living in Canada where her family received lots of support services. But after moving to Washington State, she discovered a lack of FASD awareness and supports. This experience set her on a path to become a fierce parent advocate. Today, Jenn is the driver behind the FASD Respect Act.
Join us for our Orphans No More Podcast as host, Sandra Flach, talks with Jenn Wisdahl about the symptoms of FASD, parenting strategies, and the FASD Respect Act.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
FASD Respect Act FaceBook Group
Monday Sep 13, 2021
Monday Sep 13, 2021
"Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:13-14
In honor of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month we continue our month-long spotlight on FASD with adoptive mom and marriage and family therapist, Chris Troutt.
As is a mom of 12 children—6 through adoption, Chris came face to face with childhood trauma and the impacts of FASD. Her family experienced isolation and struggled from a lack of support. That experience led Chris to establish The Papillion Center—a faith-based nonprofit therapeutic center utilizing different techniques to bring about hope and healing to children and families in hard places.
Tune in as host, Sandra Flach, talks with Chris Troutt about the challenges families in hard places face and how they can find hope and healing.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Monday Sep 06, 2021
Monday Sep 06, 2021
In honor of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month we continue our month-long spotlight on FASD with foster and adoptive mom, Shannon Iacobacci. Shannon is an FASD educator, certified facilitator, disability advocate, family coach, and board chair of FASCETS.
As a parent of four children diagnosed with an FASD, Shannon shares the challenges her family faced and the lack of training and supports they received from the foster care system. Listen in as Shannon describes the life-changing training she received through FASCETS and how it not only helped her family but equipped her to help other families also.
Tune in as host, Sandra Flach, talks with Shannon about understanding neurodiversity and parenting children with brain-based disabilities—such as FASD.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Shannon Iacobacci - on Facebook
Shannon Iacobacci - on Instagram
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Ester 4:14
September is National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Awareness Month. In support of the FASD community which includes much of the adoptive and foster care community—we are dedicating all of our September podcast episodes to the topic.
To kick off our month-long FASD series, we talk with Aubrey Page. Aubrey is a foster and adoptive mom and CEO, collaborator, and trainer at The Change Starts Here Collaborative.
Listen in as host, Sandra Flach, talks with Aubrey about training and equipping families and organizations about brain-based disabilities—especially FASD.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
The Change Starts Here FaceBook page
Monday Aug 23, 2021
Monday Aug 23, 2021
"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.'" John 9:1-3
Many adoptive and foster families step into a new school year with fear and trepidation. Our children face daily challenges which are often compounded in the classroom. Whether we send them to public or private school, provide special education services, or homeschool— children with trauma and/or brain-based disabilities such as FASD, struggle to learn and to launch.
Adoptive moms, Natalie Vecchione and Cindy LaJoy, realized years ago that their teens with developmental disabilities needed an alternative homeschool-highschool path. Through entrepreneurship and apprenticeship, these veteran homeschool moms prepared their teens with FASD to move forward with confidence, hope, and a set of practical life and job skills.
Now, Natalie and Cindy have collaborated together to share their knowledge and lived experience with other families on the same journey. Their new book, Blazing New Homeschool Trails—Educating and Launching Teens with Developmental Disabilities is a resource every homeschooling foster and adoptive family needs.
This week, on our Orphans No More Podcast, both Natalie Vecchione and Cindy LaJoy join host Sandra Flach to discuss their experience and new book. Listen to their conversation and please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Monday Aug 16, 2021
Monday Aug 16, 2021
“…but they who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are highly overrepresented in the child welfare system. Eighty-five percent of children seen in diagnostic clinics are either adoptees or are in foster care. According to the CDC, FASD impacts as many as 1 in 20 individuals in the United States—that’s 2.5 times more than autism.
While FASD is so prevalent, many people, including foster and adoptive parents and professionals, are not informed. Rebecca Tillou, an adult adoptee living with FASD, is on a mission to change that. In collaboration with the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS), Rebecca has organized the first ever FASD Run—a virtual 5K to raise awareness about FASD.
On this week’s Orphans No More Podcast, host Sandra Flach talks with Rebecca Tillou about her FASD diagnosis, the 5K, and the FASD Respect Act. Listen to their conversation on episode 286 and please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Adulting With FASD - Rebecca’s Blog
Monday Aug 09, 2021
Monday Aug 09, 2021
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
When a family steps into the messy world of foster care and adoption, they are stepping into an opportunity to change the world for a child. The change not only impacts the child but, along the way the family is transformed as they do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
On this week’s Orphans No More Podcast, host Sandra Flach talks with California pastor and adoptive dad, Micah Foster. Micah is host of the podcast - From the Garoffice-Faith in the Digital Space.
Listen in as Micah shares his family’s story of adopting a three year-old boy from foster care. He also talks about how adoption changed him and offers advice for prospective foster and adoptive parents.
Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Monday Aug 02, 2021
Monday Aug 02, 2021
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
Adoption is a heart purifying process. A fact Ginny Wells knows first hand. Ginny and her husband are parents to one adult biological child and two children adopted internationally.
The Wells family first adopted a son from Russia in the nineties after learning of the horrific conditions Russian orphans suffer under. In 2003, they adopted again, this time a daughter from China.
On this week’s Orphans No More Podcast, Ginny shares her family’s story and how adoption has made her more like Christ. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and share it on your social media.
Links mentioned in this episode: